Pentagon cutting expenses, consolidating bases in Europe

Soldiers of the 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiments of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Teams (Luftlandebrigade) enter a CH-47 'Chinook' helicopter during an exercise at the U.S. military base in Grafenwoehr. (Reuters/Michaela Rehle) / Reuters

The United States Department of Defense has announced a restructuring of operations in Europe, including the closure of 15 American bases that will be offered over to host nations.

The consolidation of US bases and posts around Europe will save
about $500 million per year, according to the Pentagon, and
result in a net decrease of about 2,000 US military and civilian
personnel across the UK. More than 74,000 troops are based in
Europe, according
to US European Command figures.

“We have been working with our allies to reposition thousands
of our military and civilian personnel within the region,”
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a statement. “This
transformation of our infrastructure will help maximize our
military capabilities in Europe so that we can best support our
NATO allies and partners in the region.”

Several US military facilities in Germany will close, though
overall US troop numbers there are expected to increase by a few
hundred, Reuters reported. Italy will gain about 300 US
personnel. Around 500 US personnel will be withdrawn from Lajes
Field in Azores, Portugal.

As RT reported,
the Pentagon will divest from Royal Air Force Mildenhall near
London, withdrawing 3,200 military personnel over the next
several years. Yet, by 2020, two squadrons of F-35 Joint Strike
Fighters and 1,200 personnel will be added to Royal Air Force
Lakenheath.

The move comes amid the Pentagon’s orders to cut expenses by
nearly $1 trillion over a decade amid expensive military ventures
in Iraq and Afghanistan – though the cuts are not nearly enough
to displace the US as the world’s
top military spender.

Pentagon officials stressed Thursday that the European
Infrastructure Consolidation (EIC) project will not diminish US
military might in Europe, an operational hub for actions taken in
the Middle East and North Africa.

“We are consolidating and reducing some existing support
infrastructure in order to be more efficient, but we are not
affecting our operational capability,” Derek Chollet,
assistant secretary of the US Department of Defense for
International Security Affairs,
said.

“The EIC adjustments do not diminish our ability to meet our
commitments to allies and partners. In fact, these decisions will
produce savings that will enable us to maintain a robust force
presence in Europe.”

The Pentagon has sought to close bases in the US in order to save
billions of dollars annually, yet lawmakers in Congress have
repeatedly blocked any such efforts to avoid potential losses of
military jobs in their districts. Congress has pressured the
Pentagon to look overseas for cuts to the military’s operational
budget.

The European closures, which will take as many as six years to
complete, will not need congressional action, Bloomberg reported.

“We looked a capacity, their requirements, military value,
cost, and at the diplomatic dynamics involved with each
action,”
said John Conger, assistant secretary of the US Department of
Defense for Installations and Environment, of the closure
decisions. “The bottom line for us is that we wanted to
preserve our operational capability, while reducing the cost of
supporting it.”

“We did not contemplate changes that reduced core fighting
capability,” he added. “That was a fundamental
constraint of the analysis.”

Meanwhile, Congress has already approved a $985 million European
Reassurance Initiative to boost facilities, regional training,
and overall military capabilities of allies in Eastern Europe and
nations such as Ukraine.

The increased funding was offered amid tensions in the region
between Russia and NATO nations led by the Western-backed
government takeover in Ukraine that deposed Russian ally
President Viktor Yanukovich nearly one year ago. A tentative
ceasefire is in place between the two sides, which are
distinguished by loyalty to the new government in Kiev or the
self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's republics in the
east.